City of Vallejo to begin charging $5/day; $20/month next Thursday

Ferry patrons pass by a sign and a payment kiosk on the upper lever of the ferry parking structure, both of which bear the warning that paid parking begins in all ferry parking areas on August 1. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald)

The downtown Vallejo parking garage has been open for months, and the collection fee devices on site for awhile.

So, city officials are hoping it won't be too much of a surprise that the day has finally come to start charging for parking.

The city of Vallejo will begin charging for parking in the garage and ferry waterfront parking lots starting Thursday morning, City Engineer Jill Mercurio said.

The fees will be $5 daily, or $20 for a monthly pass.

Parking ambassadors will be on hand Thursday morning to help drivers with the new parking fee machines, Mercurio said.

Motorists most impacted by the new fees will be commuters using the San Francisco Bay Ferry boats from Vallejo to San Francisco. Mercurio said special outreach has been made to prepare them.

In the next few days the city's website at www.ci.vallejo.ca.us will feature a video on how to use the parking kiosks and other information. Information will also be soon available on how motorists can pay online.

Some information on the parking fee is already available at the city's website under "Public Works" and "Capital Projects."

To make a payment, Mercurio said motorists enter the license plate number on their vehicles at one of the 19 payment kiosks, and then enter cash or swipe their debit or credit cards.

"The trickiest part will be remembering your license plate number. You will get to the machine and you will have to input them so we recommend people write it down," she said.

Parking enforcement officers will be able to tell if someone has not paid by using a "license plate recognition camera" outfitted in their own vehicles, Mercurio said.

If a particular license plate number has not been entered into the system, that motorist will get a ticket, Mercurio said. It was not immediately known what the fine is for not paying the parking fee, she added.

The 750-space waterfront parking garage opened in mid-October, and the payment kiosks were installed in June.

Proceeds from the parking fees will go to offset the city's garage operating and maintenance costs.

To prepare riders for the new fees, city officials have been handing out fliers and installing signs around the various parking lots informing motorists about the new fees and explaining how the payment systems work, Mercurio said.

City officials are expecting a smooth opening, though BART labor troubles could cause a head-ache for some users.

In the event of a second BART strike (which could occur when the current agreement expires on Aug. 4,) parking ambassadors will also be on hand the following day, Aug. 5, to help commuters new to the ferry system

Meanwhile, city staff continues to deal with an issue related to the parking garage, namely the contaminated underground water which required large green collection bins in front of the facility.

Mercurio said the bins will not be there indefinitely and the city is working with environmental regulatory agencies on a plan to remediate contaminated groundwater.

City officials have said the problem likely stems from something that was present on Vallejo 's old shoreline before the area got filled in and developed in the early 1960s.

The city needs to pinpoint the exact location of the contaminants and then get a plan approved for removing the soil, Mercurio said. Once that occurs, the city will be able to remove the bins.

The contaminated groundwater was not discovered into late into the garage's construction. Mercurio said no general fund money is being spent on the monitoring or the clean-up plan.